2017 Keynote Speakers

CYD HARRELL|Civic Designer

Monday, April 3, 2017 | 8:00am-9:15am | Room 106

Cyd is well known in industry and government for her creative approach to UX research and service design. In her work with Code for America, the Center for Civic Design, and recently at 18F, she strives to merge a geek’s enthusiasm for the digital with a humane sense of modern civic responsibility. She believes that design is an important practice for everyone focused on bringing our shared institutions into the 21st century, and she also believes that design can do much better at including all perspectives. When not helping public servants use design for good, she serves on the board of the Institute for Applied Tinkering, which operates radically alternative school and enrichment programs.

For her keynote presentation, Cyd will tell the story of UX design’s emergence as a key theme of the civic technology movement. She will discuss the design decisions that face public servants every day and how design can be a thread of continuity in changing political times. Cyd will share examples of how user-centered thinking takes root in spaces such as government where designers and design resources are scarce, and will talk about some of the most inspirational projects in the government sphere.

MANUEL CLEMÉNT| Google Daydream VR / AR UX Prototyper, Google

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 | 8:00am-9:15am | Room 106

Manuel Clément is a VR UX Designer and Prototyper at Google. He recently shipped Daydream and Arts & Culture VR. With a small team of 4, Daydream Labs, he also built 60 VR app experiments in 30 weeks, exploring immersive UX, and shared lessons learned at Google I/O in 2016. Before focusing on VR, Manuel worked on Material Design, Chrome, and the Self-Driving Car project in Google X. In his 20% time, he has created sounds and music for many Doodles, from Star Trek to Roswell Crash and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy. In a previous life, Manuel spent a decade designing products at Microsoft, pushed Flash back in the 90s, and published many books on the topic.